Elon Musk thinks Twitter’s ex-CEO Parag Agrawal was no ‘fire-breathing dragon’, and lacked ‘leadership quality'

Tech billionaire took over Twitter for $44 billion last year and the first thing that he did was fire employees, including its then-CEO Parag Agrawal. As per an excerpt, accessed by Wall Street Journal, from the upcoming biography on Elon Musk, Musk thought Agrawal was ‘nice’ but lacked ‘leadership quality’. Musk thought that Twitter needed a ‘fire-breathing dragon’ and Agrawal was not that.

Back in March 2022, the report said that Musk met Agrawal over dinner. This was even before Musk made an offer to buy Twitter. After this meeting, he concluded that Agrawal did not have ‘leadership quality’.

Notably, biographer Isaacson’s book about Elon Musk will be released on September 12. Isaacson, who has also written a biography for Steve Jobs, closely tracked Musk for three years before finishing this book. He interviewed Musk, his family, friends, coworkers and adversaries as well.

As per the excerpts seen by Wall Street Journal, “He's a really nice guy. What Twitter needs is a fire-breathing dragon and Parag is not that,” said Musk after meeting with Agrawal.

Isaacson has covered different aspects of Musk’s life in this biography. He said that Musk has a dark streak, and he tends to get into ‘demon mode’ at times. He said that the reason behind this dark side of him is because of his difficult childhood. He stated, “He has a dark streak coming out of a very brutal and violent childhood, during which he saw strong psychological difficulties with his father. This streak is sometimes called ‘demon mode’ by his friend Claire Boucher.”

He added, “Musk can sometimes become someone who does not care about anything except for the mission that he is on; a mission to get something done.” Isaacson also talked about the times when he had witnessed Musk going dark just because others did not have that “maniacal sense of urgency” even when it was meaningless. 

The book also talks about Musk being bullied and beaten in South Africa, back when he was a kid, and his sour relationship with his father played a major role in what he has become today.

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